1. Statement of the Technical Field
The inventive arrangements relate to portable electronic devices and more particularly to external control used in portable communication devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
The top panel of a portable communication device (e.g., a portable radio) is very valuable for the reasons of accessibility and advantageous antenna positioning. Most portable communication devices have a primary antenna, a secondary antenna, external controls and a display screen. The external components often include buttons, knobs, antenna connectors, cable connectors and a keypad. At least some of the components of the external control are disposed on the top panel of the portable communication device. Similarly, the antennas have conventionally been disposed on the top panel of the portable communication device so as to protrude out and away therefrom. For example, FIG. 1 shows an exemplary portable communication device 100 which includes a control knob 102, a primary antenna 106 and a secondary antenna 104. Each of these components is disposed on a top panel 108 of the portable communication device. These components sometimes must compete for space with an auxiliary display 108 disposed on the top panel of the portable communication device
However, there is great demand for small and unobtrusive portable communication devices. This demand has pushed some manufacturers to relocate one or more of the antennas from the outside of the chassis to the inside the chassis. While this improves the form factor of the portable communication devices, chassis-embedded antennas suffer degraded performance and higher susceptibility to surrounding electronics, board material, and human hands. Embedding the antennas also requires that the chassis be made out of non-metallic material, thus resulting in compromised ElectroMagnetic Interference (“EMI”) and loss of structural ruggedness. For this reason, very few high performance portable communication devices have chassis-embedded antennas. Instead, most high performance communication devices have antennas protruding out and away from the top panel of the chassis, as described above. In order to keep up with the demand for portable communication devices with smaller form factor and less intrusive antennas, there needs to be a way to optimize the top panels of the communication devices.